Accenture bags outsourcing contract from Janalakshmi Financial

Saturday, October 05, 2013

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As part of the contract, Accenture will manage several back office operations for Janalakshmi, including accounting, customer relationship management software and its employee portal and website as well as infrastructure services.

Accenture Plc’s India unit has won an outsourcing contract from Janalakshmi Financial Services Pvt. Ltd, which is promoted by former Citigroup banker Ramesh Ramanathan, to manage its back offices, with the Bangalore-based microfinance institution looking to save costs as it expands operations across India.

Financial details of the five-year outcome-based contract were not disclosed. As part of the contract, Accenture will manage several back office operations for Janalakshmi, including accounting, customer relationship management software and its employee portal and website, as well as infrastructure services.

Ramanthan said Janalakshmi evaluated several other IT services vendors, before zeroing in on Accenture.
“In our industry nobody has done outsourcing,” said Ramanathan, chaiman of Janalakshmi, which applied for a banking licence earlier this year. “So, if we have to do it, we have to do it carefully.”

The applications are currently being scrutinized by the Reserve Bank of India, which is expected to hand out the banking licences by January.